1982 Swedish general election

General elections were held in Sweden on 19 September 1982.[1] They saw the return of the Swedish Social Democratic Party to power after six years in opposition, the longest period in opposition by the Social Democrats since the 1910s. The center-right coalition of Thorbjörn Fälldin had earlier suffered a loss upon the breakup of the government in 1981, the year before the election, when the rightist Moderate Party chose to withdraw from the government, protesting against the centrist tax policies of the Fälldin government. After regaining power, Social Democratic leader Olof Palme succeeded in being elected Prime Minister again, having earlier held power between 1969 and 1976.

1982 Swedish general election

← 1979 19 September 1982 1985 →

All 349 seats in the Riksdag
175 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Olof Palme Ulf Adelsohn Thorbjörn Fälldin
Party Social Democrats Moderate Centre
Last election 154 73 64
Seats won 166 86 56
Seat change Increase12 Increase13 Decrease8
Popular vote 2,533,250 1,313,337 859,618
Percentage 45.61% 23.64% 15.48%
Swing Increase2.37pp Increase3.30pp Decrease2.59pp

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Ola Ullsten Lars Werner
Party People's Party Left Communists
Last election 38 20
Seats won 21 20
Seat change Decrease17 Steady
Popular vote 327 770 308,899
Percentage 5.90% 5.56%
Swing Decrease4.69pp Decrease0.05pp

Map of the election, showing the distribution of constituency and levelling seats, as well as the largest political bloc within each constituency.

PM before election

Thorbjörn Fälldin
Centre

Elected PM

Olof Palme
Social Democrats

The 2,533,250 votes for the Social Democrats is, in spite of a larger electorate, as of 2022 the highest number of people voting for a single party in Swedish electoral history, although the party had previously recorded higher percentage shares.

Debates

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1982 Swedish general election debates
Date Time Organizers Moderators  P  Present    I  Invitee  N  Non-invitee 
S M C L V Refs
Sveriges Television Lars Orup [sv] P
Olof Palme, Kjell-Olof Feldt
P
Ulf Adelsohn
P
Thorbjörn Fälldin
P
Ola Ullsten
P
Lars Werner
[2]

Results

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PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Swedish Social Democratic Party2,533,25045.61166+12
Moderate Party1,313,33723.6486+13
Centre Party859,61815.4856−8
People's Party327,7705.9021−17
Left Party Communists308,8995.56200
Christian Democratic Unity103,8201.8700
Green Party91,7871.650New
Workers Party Communists5,7450.1000
Other parties10,3760.1900
Total5,554,602100.003490
Valid votes5,554,60299.07
Invalid/blank votes52,0010.93
Total votes5,606,603100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,130,99391.45
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Seat distribution

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Constituency Total
seats
Seats won
By party By coalition
S M C F V Left Right
Älvsborg North 10 5 2 2 1 5 5
Älvsborg South 7 3 2 2 3 4
Blekinge 6 4 1 1 4 2
Bohus 10 4 3 2 1 4 6
Fyrstadskretsen 19 9 6 2 1 1 10 9
Gävleborg 12 7 2 2 1 8 4
Gothenburg 18 8 5 1 2 2 10 8
Gotland 2 1 1 1 1
Halland 10 4 3 2 1 4 6
Jämtland 5 3 1 1 3 2
Jönköping 13 6 3 3 1 6 7
Kalmar 9 5 2 2 5 4
Kopparberg 12 6 2 3 1 7 5
Kristianstad 11 5 3 2 1 5 6
Kronoberg 7 3 2 2 3 4
Malmöhus 13 6 4 2 1 6 7
Norrbotten 10 7 1 1 1 8 2
Örebro 12 6 2 2 1 1 7 5
Östergötland 17 8 4 3 1 1 9 8
Skaraborg 12 5 3 3 1 5 7
Södermanland 11 6 2 2 1 6 5
Stockholm County 34 14 12 3 2 3 17 17
Stockholm Municipality 31 12 11 2 2 4 16 15
Uppsala 11 5 2 2 1 1 6 5
Värmland 13 6 3 2 1 1 7 6
Västerbotten 10 5 1 2 1 1 6 4
Västernorrland 13 7 2 3 1 8 5
Västmanland 11 6 2 1 1 1 7 4
Total 349 166 86 56 21 20 186 163
Source: Statistics Sweden

By municipality

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References

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  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1858 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ Slutdebatter – Partiledardebatt (in Swedish), Sweden Sveriges Television AB, Stockholm, retrieved 29 January 2024